


The Phantom Thief of Akechi's Heart

by rollie_ravioli



Series: Late Night Confessions [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, But only a tiny bit, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, First Dates, Flirting, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Kissing, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27114604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rollie_ravioli/pseuds/rollie_ravioli
Summary: Now that the two boys have worked through their feelings for each other, it is time for Akira Kurusu and Goro Akechi to go on actual dates. But who will show the other the more romantic date? Who will win this new competition they've created for themselves? And what exactly will the winner win?
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Late Night Confessions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976674
Comments: 7
Kudos: 112





	1. Akira's date

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to the two previous works in this series, but it isn't really important to have read those before this one. Hope you all enjoy!

Akira watched as the train slowly pulled to a stop at the station, anticipation bubbling within every inch of his body. Tonight was the night. The night of his first official date with Goro Akechi, as well as the night that he would be declared the victor in their (boy-)friendly competitive “date-off.” 

Now, Akira knows that he may be a little over-confident in his own ability to win this competition, considering he still has no idea what his significant other has planned for his date, but Akira feels that he has for sure planned a crazy romantic date that will absolutely blow whatever Goro has planned out of the water.

Speak of the devil, Akira spots him exiting from a train car a little further down the platform. Akira calls out to him and runs his way. 

Goro looks towards the rapidly approaching Akira and can’t help but smile. The two haven’t seen each other since they had decided to start dating about a week ago, and Goro was eager to see what Akira had planned for their first official date.

Of course, both of the teens know that they have technically been on many dates already, but those didn’t really count since they were corrupted by Akechi’s ulterior motives. Now, with all his secrets, past, and insecurities all out in the open, they could finally have a real, uncomplicated, romantic relationship. 

Akira crashed into Goro and pulled him into a tight hug, which Goro returned in kind. They stood like that for a few seconds before breaking apart. “How are you, Akira?” the older boy asked. 

“Good, now that you’re here.” 

Goro blushed for a moment before smirking. “If you are trying to butter me up with compliments and bad pick-up lines to try to win our little contest, I want you to know that I won’t be making it that easy for you.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, honey.” Akira replied with a devilish grin of his own. “compliments and, excuse you, amazing pick-up lines are only step one of my 10 step plan to romance the hell out of you.” Akira led Goro out of the station and towards the location of their date. As they stepped outside, the sun shined brightly in their eyes.

“I look forward to seeing what else you have planned,” Goro said as he followed Akira down the streets of his hometown. “It will make for excellent research when I’m deciding how I’m going to, how did you say it, ‘romance the hell out of you.’” 

“I think the only thing you will learn is that you have absolutely no chance of beating me at this game.” Akira replied as he slid his hand into Goro’s, giving it a tight squeeze. 

As they walked into the park that Akira had brought them too, Goro noticed some other teens looking towards them, while talking amongst themselves and snickering. Goro looked to the boy beside him and saw that he was looking down, seeming to be a little unsure of himself. The detective deduced that these must be some of the other students at Akira’s school, and recalled how he had mentioned that he wasn’t exactly getting along well with many of the other students. 

Time to be a good boyfriend, Goro thought to himself as he let go of Akira’s hand, before using the same arm to grab his other shoulder and pull the boy in close. “They are just some dumb ass guys who make fun of you to make up for how extremely insecure they feel in their own masculinity.” Goro whispered into Akira’s ear. “And if they ever give you any trouble, I’ll kick their asses.” 

Akira gave Goro a small smile. “I can’t have you get arrested on assault charges on my behalf.” 

“Consider it repayment for knocking my asshole father to the ground all those months ago.” 

“Oh, you heard about that?” Akira replied with a smirk.

“Yeah, I did.” Goro then leaned in much closer and lowered his voice. “and I don’t think I’ve ever been more attracted to a person than I was to you when I had heard about that.”

Akira felt the blood rush to his cheeks. “W-well, I… I’m glad that getting arrested at least helped me in the romance department at least.” Goro smirked after seeing his stuttered reaction.

Akira was saved from further embarrassment when a high-pitched voice interrupted their discussion. 

“It took you too long enough! I had to fend off your spot from countless weirdos!” 

Goro looked down to see Akira’s not-a-cat Morgana standing in front of a picnic blanket set up with under the shade of two neighboring trees. Looking around the area, Goro also spotted a picnic basket, a large blanket and a couple pillows. 

Goro couldn’t help but smile at scene Akira had planned for him. It was quite cute, if he’s being honest. But before he could complement him on his date choice, he first had to address the elephant in the room. Or, the not-a-cat in the park. 

“Hello, Morgana.” He addressed to the former Phantom Thief that was currently sitting in front of him. 

“Akechi.” The not-a-cat addressed back, with an edge of contempt to his voice.

“I had Morgana guard my set up here while I picked you up from the train station.” Akira explained. When Goro looked at him with a puzzled face, he continued “Don’t worry, Goro. Morgana will leave us alone soon enough,” he then turned to Morgana “won’t you, Morgana.”

“Yeah, Yeah. I’m on my way.” He replied as he stood on all four paws and start walking away. “And Akechi, if you even think about hurting Akira, you’ll wake up with your eyes scratched out.”

“Oooohhh, scary. How long did it take you to think that up?” Goro asked in a mocking tone.

“Obviously longer than it took you to pick out that sweater vest.”

Before Goro could make a response, Akira stood in between the two. “Morgana was just leaving.” He said while staring intensely at the no-a-cat.

“Yep. I’m gone!” he said, but stuck his tongue out at Goro before turning around and leaving. Goro responding by doing the same. 

“Mature.” Akira said to Goro. “and very sexy. Mature and sexy.”

Goro let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m still working on ‘playing nice’ with others. I think you can tell it’s not exactly one of my strong areas.” 

“Well, I’m glad you’re trying.” Akira said as he led Goro to sit down on the picnic blanket with him. “As a reward, I’ll treat to you to dinner!” Akira then pulled a homemade bento box from the picnic blanket and handed it to Goro.

“Smooth.” Goro deadpanned as he accepted his meal. “Did you make this yourself?”

“Some of us like to use more than just the microwave when we cook, Goro.” Goro gave Akira a blank stare before taking a bite of his food. And then another bite. And another. 

“This is… really good.” Goro told his date as he continued to eat.

Akira tried to hide his satisfied grin. The two ate in relative silence, with Akira constantly sneaking glances at Goro and smirking when he would get caught. 

“Do I have something on my face?” Goro asked after catching Akira for the fifth time.

“No. I just can’t resist looking at that beautiful face in question.” Akira replied while he had his mouth full of food. 

Goro gave him another blank stare. “Charming.” 

Akira replied with a large grin. “I try.” 

Once they had both finished their food, Akira cleaned it up and pulled out some baked goods he got from a local bakery to have for dessert. Goro reached over to grab one, but Akira just shook his head, takes a cookie and raises it to Goro’s mouth slowly. Goro keeps his lips sealed at first, so Akira just pushes the cookie against said lips until he begrudgingly opens them and takes a bite. Akira is smirking the entire time.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.” Goro said as he took a bite from another cookie. 

“How could I not be, when I’m with you?” Akira replied with a wide grin. 

“I see your flirtatious remarks haven’t improved at all.” 

“You say that like you aren’t lovingly gazing into my eyes right now.” Goro couldn’t come up with a comeback. “Busted. Looks like I’m gonna win our little competition.”

“Oh, don’t get to confident, Joker. You have no idea what I’ve got planned.” 

“Perhaps you’d wanna give me a hint? I’m practically shaking with anticipation.” Akira started to lean in closer to Goro.

“Absolutely not. It needs to be a surprise.” Goro was also leaning in, getting closer and closer to Akira with each word.

“Perhaps I could find some way to persuade you. Like with a kiss….” The two boys leaned closer and closer, and once their lips were only a breath apart, Akira closed his eyes and leaned in closer, puckering his lips and meeting…. a cookie?

Akira opened his eyes and saw Goro holding a cookie against Akira’s puckered lips while he sat back with a smug look on his face. “Payback.”

Akira sulked for a second before taking a bite of the cookie, and then taking it from Goro’s hand. 

Once the dessert was finished, Akira quickly cleaned up and moved the basket to the side. Over the course of their meal, the sky had gotten much darker and the air much cooler, so Akira pulled the large blanket out and draped it over the two of them, and set up some pillows so the two of them could lie down. 

Luckily, because it was a cloudless night and they were far away from the light pollution of Tokyo, they could actually see all the stars in the sky at night. The two teens lie down on their blanket and admired the stars, with Akira laying down on Goro’s outstretched arm, with his elbow bent so he was playing with the boy’s messy curls.

“I’ve never actually seen the night sky like this before.” Goro said after a few minutes of quiet. “I’ve gotta admit, Akira, I think I’ll have some tough competition.” He said as he looked over to the other boy. Akira looked back at him with a small smile. The two moved in closer together and shared a quick, closed mouth kiss. 

That quick kiss turned into another kiss, and another. Until the kisses weren’t so quick anymore, and their mouths weren’t always closed. 

After a passionate few minutes of kissing, Akira grew tired and rested his head against Goro’s chest, who put his arm around Akira protectively, as the two continued to stare up at the night sky. 

“I know I’ve probably already said this, but I’m really glad you’re alive.” Akira said quietly.

“For the first time in a very long time, I think I am too.”


	2. Goro's Date

The minute Goro walked up to the door, it was already open as Akira hurried out and shut it behind him. 

“You seem to be in a hurry.” Goro gave him a puzzled look.

“Yep!” Akira quickly grabbed hold of the other teen’s arm and started pulling him away from his house. “Let’s leave quickly before my parent’s notice and start asking questions.” He said in a hushed voice.

“Ah, I see” replied Goro. He didn’t know all the much about Akira’s home situation, but he could deduce that it must be a sore spot, given that that their response to their son being falsely accused of assault was to ship him off to Tokyo. 

Once they were out of eyesight of Akira’s house, they slowed down to a more leisurely pace. “Sorry about that.” He said to Goro. “So, where are you taking me on this fine evening?” 

“Well, unfortunately there aren’t as many stellar options around this small town of yours as there are in Tokyo, but I think I found a nice little place that’s just a few blocks this way.” Goro said as he led Akira towards their destination. 

“Not so used to the country life, are you?” 

“No, I guess not.” Goro said. “But I suppose getting away from the city that has been my prison for my entire life for a little bit has been doing me some good.” Akira nodded in response.

“What do you think you’ll do once you get too tired of being out here in the middle of nowhere?” 

Goro pondered on that for a quiet moment. “I’ve haven’t put too much thought to that.” Goro answered. “I don’t think it would be right of me to go back to being a detective, and I think I want to stay as far away from the public’s eye as possible.” Akira let out a small laugh. “But I do know that whatever I do, I want you by my side.”

Akira felt his cheeks redden and embarrassingly turned his head away. “Stop saying stuff like that.” He playfully complained while giving Goro a light push, who merely kept clinging to the other boy’s arm.

“Why Akira, I have to find some way to compete with your date, and giving you as many complements as I possibly can is a surefire way to make sure you’re having a good time.” He explained. “Plus, I find the way you are so easily embarrassed to be quite adorable.” He said in a nonchalant tone. 

Akira mumbled “jerk” under his breath as he felt his blush grow. Goro gave a small smirk and pulled the other boy closer to him. 

Soon enough, the two arrived at their destination: a nice, fancy restaurant in the centre of the town. “This is the best reviewed restaurant in your town, apparently.” Goro explained. “As nice as your homemade meals were, I thought that if I were to cook for you it would have most likely resulted in food poisoning.” 

“Perhaps you should have just done that when you were trying to kill me. It might have worked out better for you.” Goro’s face turned into the same scowl Akira had seen a lot of in January every time he invited him out to play darts. “Hey, you tried to assassinate me. I think I can make as many jokes about it as I want.” 

The former detective gave out a long sigh. “That’s fair, I suppose.” He then started leading Akira into the restaurant. 

The two boys were led to their table by the host, who gave them their menus. As Akira began to look at the options, his date spoke up. “Don’t worry about cost, I’m buying.”

Akira glanced at the menu and saw how much just a small appetizer would cost. “Are you sure? It’s pretty expensive here.” 

Goro pulled out his wallet. “Well, you see, after you changed Shido’s heart, apparently he felt so bad about forcing his neglected teenage son to commit political assassinations for him, and he thought that one way to get over his incredible amount of guilt was to give me a small fortune as a kind of overdue child support.” He pulled a shiny bank card from his wallet and showed it off with a devilish grin. “Nothing would make me happier than to spend my asshole father’s money on giving a great date to the man who pushed his drunk ass to the ground and then later took down his criminal conspiracy.”

Akira replied with a large grin of his own. “Well why didn’t you just say so?” Once the waiter arrived, both of the teens ordered the most expensive entrées on the menu. 

As the waiter left their table, both of the teens spoke at the same time.

“So how is the…”

“What are you do…”

The two both paused and let out a small laugh. “You go first.” Akira told the other.

“Okay, I was just going to ask how things are going now that you’re back at your old school.” Akira looked down and stayed quiet. “That bad, huh?”

“It’s not like I get beat up or anything it’s just…” Akira let out a sigh. “I spent so long at Shujin trying to get people to forget about my criminal record and think of me as just a normal kid, and now it’s like I’m back at square one. And it doesn’t help that I’m missing all of my friends back in Tokyo a lot.” Akira raised a hand to nervously play with his bangs. “You know, I never really had that many close friends, even before my record. It kind of feels like I only got a taste of having a group of people who love and care for me, only for me to move far away from them.” Akira looked up at Goro and his eyes widened for a moment. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. This was supposed to be a nice data and now I’m unloading all my feelings.”

Goro reached across the table and grabbed Akira’s hand, cutting him off. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re letting this out. I’d always figured you were one to bottle up these feelings and present the image of being okay.” Goro brushed his thumb across the backside of Akira’s hand. “You can share your feelings with me. Lord knows I’ve shared all my feelings with you, whether you liked it a lot.”

Akira let out a chuckle. “Yeah, you did.” He looked up and into Goro’s eyes. “Choosing to talk about your sad backstory while naked in the bathhouse with me was a real bold move.” 

Goro’s face shifted from concern to a scowl, while Akira responded with an innocent smile. “You wanted to ask me something?” he said while trying to hold back the annoyance in his voice.

“I was just wondering how things were going at this rehab place you are staying at?”

“it’s… not… terrible.” Goro let out. “I assume it’s obvious that being forced to confront one’s past trauma, as well as all the abhorrent things that have been done because of said past trauma is not exactly easy.” 

“Yeah, I kinda guessed that.” 

“Nonetheless, I suppose the guilt I feel is well-deserved, but that doesn’t exactly help me figure out how I’m supposed to behave around all the other people that I’ve hurt with my actions. I can’t exactly go and date Sakura and Okumura too.” 

Akira laughed loudly at the last comment, gaining the attention of most of the restaurant. Some of the patrons at the nearby tables gave the two some dirty looks. Akira quickly noticed and started nervously playing with his bangs again.

“It’s humorous, isn’t it?” Goro asked. When Akira gave him a puzzled look, he began explaining, “I had thought that most people spend their first few dates with a prospective partner getting to know each other, yet here we are talking about all of our deep-seated traumas and emotional complexes.”

“Well most people just starting out in a relationship don’t have the added baggage of having fought monsters in an alternate dimension created from the collective unconsciousness.” Akira supplied. 

Goro smiled at his answer. “No, I suppose most people don’t.” 

Soon enough, the waiter had brought the first course out, which Akira would have begun digging into if not for two teenage girls at a nearby table whispering together while looking at the two teens. He could have sworn he heard one of them say “Akechi-kun”. 

Soon enough, the two girls got up from their table and started walking in the direction of Akira and Goro’s table. Realizing what was about to happen, Akira thought that maybe the trick they had played last time this happened would work, and quickly tried to grab at his glasses, but miscalculated and ended up jamming a thumb into his eye. 

Goro looked up from his dish with a puzzled look, about to question what happened before the girls finally arrived at the table. “Hi!” they said in unison. “We’re friends of Kurusu-kun’s from school, and we thought we’d come over and say hello.” The taller one explained as they both only looked at Goro. “We’re both fans of yours from TV.”

Goro’s face briefly had an annoyed look on his face before it shifted into that of the charming detective prince. “Oh, well Akira has never mentioned either of you.” He said with a winning TV smile as both the girls let out a small and quick gasp at him using Akira’s given name. 

“So, what are you doing out here?” the shorter one asked. “We haven’t seen you very much on TV lately. It’s almost like you died or something.” Akira let out a quiet snort, which the girls ignored. She then leaned in a little too close for comfort, “Are you solving a crime out here?”

“Actually, I’m out here to see Akira.” He gestured to his date, who seemed to be shrinking further and further into his chair. 

“Oh” the shorter one said, before the taller one spoke up.

“You know he’s kind of a troublemaker, right? I heard he has a criminal record. Not really someone the detective prince should be spending their time on.” She said while giving the side eye to Akira.

Before Goro could speak up, the shorter jumped in, “Well they must have met when Kurusu-kun was in Tokyo, and Akechi-kun helped him stop his criminal ways. Oh, Akechi-kun, you’re so thoughtful!” Akira let out another small snort. 

Before either of the two girls could say anything else, Goro quickly spoke up, “Actually, it would interest you to know that I did investigate Akira-kun’s case,” he said in his usual detective prince voice, however with an added edge to it this time. “and what I found was that he actually did not commit any crime, and was in fact falsely accused. So, you are throwing all these baseless accusations at someone whom I value very much for no real reason.” As Goro spoke, the looks on both of the girls faces became more and more horrified. Goro smiled satisfyingly. “Now, I would please ask you to leave and let us continue our dinner in peace.”

Both of the girls looked too stunned to speak, so they quietly left the two alone. As they walked back to their table, Akira looked back at Goro with wide eyes, and a little redness in his cheeks. “You didn’t have to go all out on them. It probably hurt your reputation.”

“I’m done caring about my reputation.” He said in a triumphant voice. “As it stands currently, you are the only person whose opinion I actually care for.”

Akira was quiet for a moment before giving Goro a small smile. “Thank you, for that.” 

“Well, I can’t just let my boyfriend get disrespected like that. I believe that’s against the common rules of a relationship, is it not?” 

Akira smirked. “No, you certainly cannot.” The two then continued to eat their meals in peace. Once they finished, the waiter arrived to take away their plates and give them a dessert menu. 

“Are you going to order something?” Akira asked. “I know how much you love sweats.” He said teasingly. 

Goro let out an exasperated sigh. “I told you I only said that on TV to help my image.”

“Sure, Goro.” Nonetheless, the two ordered a slice of cheesecake to share, which Goro ended up eating most of. Once done, Goro paid for the bill and made their leave, seeing the two girls from earlier eye the way Goro had his hand on Akira’s waist as they left.

Once out in the quiet streets of Akira’s hometown, Goro pulled Akira in closer and held him pressed up against his side, arm around his waist. Akira replied by putting his own arm around Goro and holding onto his waist. The two walked in silence, enjoying the twilight sky of the countryside. 

Once they were about a block from Akira’s parents’ house, Akira stopped the two of them. “I just wanted to do this without my parent’s seeing.” 

“Do wha….” Goro tried to ask before Akira put his hand on the back of Goro’s neck and kissed him. The two kissed for what felt like hours before breaking apart.

“Thank you, for tonight.” Akira said in a quiet voice. 

“For you, anything.” The two let go of each other and continued their walk back. “I suppose we will have to determine who won our little contest know won’t we?”

“Yeah.” Akira gave him a small smile. “But I think I already know who won.”

“Me too” Goro replied with his own smile. 

“I won.” They both said in unison before giving each other shocked looks. “You won?!”

“I gave you homemade food and then we sat back and stargazed!”

“I paid for an expensive dinner and then told off two bitchy girls who were speaking ill of you!” 

“You tell off everyone, Goro.” 

Goro looked annoyed before he gave Akira another smirk. “Well then, I suppose there is only one way for us to break this tie.” 

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“We each set up another date for each other.” Goro explained matter-of-factly. 

Akira replied with a smirk of his own. “I think that will work for me.”

“It’s agreed then.” Goro said while holding his hand out to shake.

Akira laughed as he took Goro’s hand and shook. “Yeah, agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then they continued to try and one-up each other in their romance until they ended up married, with neither ever actually being declared the winner.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow or chat with me on Tumblr if you want: https://rollie-ravioli.tumblr.com


End file.
